Wetass Hall Of Fame: Eric Shipton…

With May fast approaching the hordes are starting their annual migration to Everest, where they will climb, litter, argue about fixed ropes, and jostle each other as they wait in line to pull themselves up the Hillary Step. Uplifting, yes? But if you need an antidote, a cool tonic, to the modern circus that is Everest, click over to Explorer’s Web, and carefully skipping over the oddly dyspeptic screed about “The Rules Of Adventure, make your way to Part 1 (of 3) of their highly refreshing profile of one of the true greats: English climber Eric Shipton. Shipton was a part of all four massive British expeditions to Everest in the 1930s, and is credited with finding the route that Hillary and Tenzing would eventually climb to the top. But he is best known for his partnership with another Wetass Hall Of Famer, H.W. Tilman, a partnership that defined the essence of adventure, took Shipton to the corners of the earth, and helped pioneer the light, fast Alpine-style of climbing big mountains (which was anathema at the time). Tilman and Shipton liked to say that any expedition could be planned on the back of a cocktail napkin, and they spent a lot of time filling up cocktail napkins…

Simple Shipton: “My God! Is that a bathtub being carried to Camp 3? All I need to climb Everest is some good boots, and this pipe…”